school email address

Question

i'm being given the option to use either my legal first name, or my 'preferred' name in my school email address. suppose my name was robert doe, but the last time anyone called me robert was in kindergarten. everyone and their mom now calls me 'bob doe'. should i make my email address robert.doe@ ? or bob.doe@?

(feel free to replace robert/bob with jonathan / jon, christopher / chris, or any other short form of a longer name).

i guess the real question is - would it be too informal to have my shortened nickname go on my business cards / email address, even if that's what everyone calls me?

unplugged · Answer

My school isn't giving me that option.

If I were you I'd go with my original name because of 2 reasons

1) It looks good on the business card( more formal?)

2) I don't know how it is in the U.S but many verificaiton procedures in my country require an email id and it definitely helps speed up the process if your complete name is part of your email id

refurb · Answer

Go with your formal legal name.

If someone emails you, then just end it with your nickname.

Once people get to know you, they'll start to use your nickname.

Plus it makes it easier for people to find you! If someone calls the switchboard of your company and asks for you by nickname, they might not find you.

RF

coaks · Answer

Go with the name you want to be called. Formality is not an issue. You're not going to get any less respect if your name was Robert or Rob/Bob/Bobby. In terms of finding you, it will only be an issue if you continue alternating between your given and chosen names. If you just stick with your chosen name from the time you start at your business school program throughout the rest of your business career, no one will have any difficulty looking you up.

Jerz · Answer

Not sure if this is an option at your school, but if you tend to go by a shortened form of your name you may be able to change your email display name without changing the email address. So your email address may be robert.doe@bschool.edu, but your email will show up as "Bob Doe" in the person's inbox. A friend of mine here did that, so his email address uses William but his emails show up as Bill.

shadow · Answer

thanks for the valuable inputs. i opted to go with the legal name, and i'll definitely look into jerz' (jerz's?) idea about changing the display name in the inbox

school email address

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